Matt Kenseth's spotter, Mike Calinoff, sports proof of Daytona 500 win

By SceneDaily Staff
Friday, February 20, 2009
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FONTANA, Calif. – While Matt Kenseth's spotter has already gotten a tattoo to honor the Roush Fenway Racing team's victory in last weekend’s Daytona 500, don't expect the driver to follow suit.

While Kenseth spent the past week touring various cities as part of a post-victory media blitz, Mike Calinoff decided to mark the occasion in a different way - and one that Kenseth actually unintentionally encouraged.

Calinoff, who left Kenseth's team a few years ago but returned as Kenseth's spotter this season, celebrated the group's 2003 championship in the same way. But when that happened, he got a jump on the title - and the tattoo - which led to some good-natured ribbing Monday morning.

"I was kind of teasing Mike because I always tease him, but I was really teasing him because the week before we won the championship in ’03, which we were able to win a week early, actually, he went and got the championship tattoo put on his leg, and we were in victory lane celebrating the championship and he showed us he already had the tattoo," Kenseth said Friday at Auto Club Speedway. "So I asked him Monday if he got the tattoo put on yet before we won the race – if he really was a psychic. But I was just giving him a hard time about it, but it didn’t surprise me that he did it.”

Calinoff said that the $250, multicolored tattoo took two hours and was painful to get put on, but that he is glad that he did it.

"It was worth it,” he said. “I'd do it again tomorrow."

Calinoff admits that he could be the only spotter commemorating a big win in this way, but he doesn't regret it at all.

"They're probably not as crazy as I am to do something like that," he said. "You can always lose a ring, but you can't lose a tattoo. I've got it for life."

But will Kenseth join him in celebrating a win in this way? Not likely.

“No," he said when asked. "I’m not a tattoo guy."

Comments

3 responses to "Matt Kenseth's spotter, Mike Calinoff, sports proof of Daytona 500 win". Post a Comment.
  1. 1
    Pat Draper said:
    Feb 21, 2009 at 9:39 AM

    Matt would be the last driver that i would think would get a tattoo. I think there are only a couple of drivers that might have tattoo's but we'll never know. We could have someone in nascar take a poll that would be neat. The fans want to know who all have tattoo's.

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  2. 2
    Louise Diamond said:
    Feb 21, 2009 at 2:29 PM

    At least that's one tattoo Mike will never regret, nor be ashamed to show off. I'm constantly amazed at the way NASCAR teammates support each other.

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  3. 3
    Werner Boehmert said:
    Feb 21, 2009 at 7:35 PM

    my hats off to all the spotters...it's not an easy job...i know i couldn't do it...i don't like heights...

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Feb 9, 2010 at 3:35 PM
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